Ending In Richard Lowry's 'The Giver'

The ending of Lowry 's novel, The Giver, seems rather ambiguous. Before reading the author 's Newbery Medal acceptance speech, I thought of two possible interpretations. The first and also the one that I like the least was that Jonas and Gabriel had finally come to Elsewhere, but they died before they could be helped. After all that they had been through, they finally had their goal within reach. But they froze to death dreaming of warmth and love that they had never been able to obtain, still hoping beyond hope that they might reach the end. To say that this felt very dissatisfying and depressing is an understatement. I picked up the book again, searching for another meaning. The second explanation that I found was that Jonas and Gabriel had drifted into unconsciousness because of the cold just as they reached Elsewhere. "Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby" (The Giver 225). The people that were waiting for Jonas and Gabriel then found them and took care of them. I liked this analysis much better, although I still wasn 't sure whether or not it was the correct one. Curious to know how the story really ended, I looked up the other books and learned to my relief, that the two actually did survive. But I still wasn 't sure where they really ended up.

The Giver is timeless because it occurs in the “here and now” of an alternate universe instead of a certain time period of our world, be it in the past, present, or future. The long-lasting appeal of this work is at least partially due to the fact that because it can be interpreted in any way, the characters and the dilemmas that they face are relatable, and the ideas conveyed pertain to almost any point in time. Truly a moving and fascinating piece of literature, Lowry’s The Giver is a very relevant work that will continue to engage readers of all ages in deeper thinking and change the way that we see the world